Friday, 31 October 2014

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) - A handful of toss-up U.S. Senate races next week could hold the key to whether the stock market glides through the year-end in a typical post-midterm election rally or gets hit with a fresh bout of volatility. U.S. investors appear less concerned with whether Republicans take control of the Senate, as expected, or Democrats hang on to their majority by a slim margin. They just want to know - come Wednesday morning - the actual outcome. ...

Ebola has wiped out whole villages in Sierra Leone and may have caused many more deaths than the nearly 5,000 official global toll, a senior coordinator of the medical aid group MSF said Friday. Rony Zachariah of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said after visiting Sierra Leone that the Ebola figures were "under-reported", in an interview with AFP on the sidelines of a medical conference in Barcelona. The World Health Organization (WHO) published revised figures on Friday showing 4,951 people have died of Ebola and there was a total of 13,567 reported cases.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Medicare program's payment rate for hospital outpatient services will increase 2.3 percent in calendar year 2015, while the rate for ambulatory surgical services will rise 1.4 percent, the federal government announced on Friday.

PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - An Oregon resident being monitored for possible Ebola infection has been hospitalized, state health officials said on Friday. A woman being monitored after traveling to an Ebola-plagued nation registered a high temperature, causing health officials to order her hospitalized, the Oregon Health Authority said, adding that she is in isolation and is not danger to the public. (Reporting by Courtney Sherwood in Portland, Oregon; Writing by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Bill Trott) via Health News Headlines - Yahoo News Read More Here..

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Medicare program's payment rate for hospital outpatient services will increase 2.3 percent in calendar year 2015, while the rate for ambulatory surgical services will rise 1.4 percent, the federal government announced on Friday. The Medicare health insurance program for the elderly and disabled will also begin to pay doctors a monthly fee to coordinate care for patients with multiple chronic conditions in 2015, a government statement said. The separate monthly payment of $40. ... via Health News Headlines - Yahoo News Read More Here..

(Reuters) - Jefferies Group LLC said on Friday Chief Executive Rich Handler, Chairman Brian Friedman and executives at its healthcare division were tested negative for drug usage, after one of its investment banking head was accused of drug abuse. Sources told Reuters on Thursday that Sage Kelly, the head of Jefferies' healthcare investment banking group, is taking a leave of absence from the firm as he wages a bitter divorce battle with his estranged wife. ... via Health News Headlines - Yahoo News Read More Here..

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Civilian U.S. defense employees returning from Ebola relief work in West Africa must undergo monitoring to ensure they are free of disease but can choose between following civil health guidelines or the stricter military regimen, the Pentagon said on Friday. The decision followed an impassioned political and scientific debate in the United States about the most appropriate and safe precautions for returning medical and other workers who have been helping to contain the Ebola outbreak at its source. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Civilian U.S. defense employees returning from Ebola relief work in West Africa must undergo monitoring to ensure they are free of disease but can choose between following civil health guidelines or the stricter military regimen, the Pentagon said on Friday.

By Devika Krishna Kumar (Reuters) - When Kimberly-Clark Corp decided a year ago to carve off its healthcare division, it probably did not envisage launching the company amid the deadliest ever outbreak of the Ebola virus. Since Ebola was first diagnosed in the United States, demand has surged for the eye shields, face masks and disposable gowns made by Halyard Health Inc, which is set to make its market debut on Monday. "The investment community seems very engaged and are asking us a lot of questions," Warren Machan, Halyard's senior vice-president of business strategy, told Reuters. ...

CAPE ELIZABETH Maine (Reuters) - A nurse who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone but has tested negative for the virus went for a bike ride on Thursday, defying Maine's order that she be quarantined in her home and setting up a legal collision with Governor Paul LePage.

By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - Researchers in Oregon say they have identified 27 genes that may cause autism, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature. The research at Oregon Health and Science University has the potential to create a screening tool for parents of autistic children, by helping them to determine if future offspring are likely also to develop the disorder, said co-author Brian O'Roak, assistant professor of molecular and medical genetics at OHSU's medical school. ... via Health News Headlines - Yahoo News Read More Here..

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A brief new report claims that using a breathing technique based on Tibetan Buddhist tradition, 26 inexperienced mountain climbers made it up Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa in 48 hours while avoiding acute mountain sickness.